Make no bones about it, the Halloween wars are heating up already. Yes, the country just celebrated the Fourth of July less than two weeks ago. But Home Depot
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has already dropped its Halloween home décor online — including its viral $299, 12-foot skeleton that’s been a seasonal sensation since 2020.
The towering and terrifying figure, officially named “12-foot Giant Skeleton with LifeEyes LCD Eyes,” stands 12 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds. It has animated LCD eyes that “create a creepy effect,” per the product description. And folks apparently can’t get enough of it. The skeleton, which has been nicknamed “Skelly,” became a social media sensation during the first year of the pandemic, and has sold out well before Oct. 31 during the past two Halloween seasons. Home Depot’s chief operating officer noted on a 2020 Q3 earnings call that “customers responded to our larger assortment of animatronics, inflatables and yard décor, as evidenced by our 12-foot skeleton that sold out before October.”
So Home Depot has already brought its bestselling skeleton out of the closet for Halloween 2022, making Skelly available for online ordering as of July 15. The drop had “Home Depot” and “Halloween” topping Google search trends on Friday morning. And queries for “Home Depot Halloween skeleton” and “are the 12 foot skeletons sold out?” were also trending on Friday. Analysts note that Halloween shopping has been creeping earlier on the calendar for the past few years — similar to how Starbucks’
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signature pumpkin spice latte and other fall flavors have been returning to menus as early as August in recent years, well ahead of the autumnal equinox. It’s still a little early for the National Retail Federation to share its 2022 Halloween predictions, but it noted last year that customers were ready for the spooky celebration “earlier than ever.”
National Retail Federation
Almost half (45%) of surveyed shoppers told the NRF they expected to start their Halloween shopping in September or earlier last year, which was up from 36% five years before. A few shoppers have already reported that some HomeGoods a …